In my practice as investment counsel to high-net-worth families, one of my roles is to help clients plan for family and charitable legacies. That involves integrating financial and estate planning, a subject I’ve written about from time to time. (If you would like a digital download of an article I wrote in connection with “The Discerning Investor,” published by the American Bar Association, here is a link: tinyurl.com/2ujxrwzx.)
Over the years, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t in both large and small estates, and I’m happy to share some insights.
The first subject to tackle is the role of the executor, which opens up two issues: If you are chosen to serve in that capacity, should you? And, if you are an executor, where do you get help?
The executor’s job is to move an estate through the probate court process to make sure the deceased’s assets are transferred to heirs after paying the decedent’s debts, including any federal and state estate taxes that may be due.
The job can be easy if there are few assets and debts and a simple legacy — or daunting if the deceased’s life and legacy wishes were not only complicated, but also disorganized.
A simple situation might be a single elderly individual who sold his home before moving into a long-term care facility, with a single brokerage account worth less than $1 million, and a single heir, an only child.
A much more complex estate is a very wealthy business owner of a private company whose current spouse and children will share assets with children born of prior marriages along with two charities. The individual has multiple homes in different states, multiple brokerage accounts, complex financial holdings (including illiquid...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/julie-jason-looking-at-the-role-of-the-executor-17747395.php
No comments:
Post a Comment